Maria Gay

She defiantly continued to sing them in prison, with a voice so fine she was offered a chance to study bel canto.

She reportedly shocked and mesmerized audiences, portraying the gypsy girl as an impudent, magnetic, but coarse and unrefined peasant, eating an orange and spitting out the seeds before singing the famous Habanera.

In 1908, she made her debut in Carmen for the Met in New York City opposite Geraldine Farrar as Micaela.

Gay and Zenatello worked to find, help train, and promote promising young singers.

Gay and Zenatello set up a home in Manhattan, New York City in 1936, where she lived the rest of her life.